


Occasion

by HeatherGiesbrecht



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Castles, Complete, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Dialogue Heavy, Established Relationship, Halloween, Horseback Riding, M/M, Nighttime, Non-Canon Relationship, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Slash, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 10:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16473647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeatherGiesbrecht/pseuds/HeatherGiesbrecht
Summary: Thor didn't want to go to a masquerade but he supposed the supplies were worth it.





	1. Masquerade

Thor frowned at Loki, scrunching his eyebrows. "You said that we would go to a masquerade ball ?! I didn't tell you to do that."

"Of course you didn't, unless they're mine or yours, you generally hate balls. I agreed we would go in exchange for extra supplies when we leave this Realm. I had the mask maker do ours right away." A raven half mask trimmed with feathers formed between Loki's outstretched palms. "I took the liberty of enchanting it with an illusion of your missing eye. No one wants to be instantly recognizable at a masquerade, after all."

Warily, he accepted the mask and sniffed it. Was that fish gut polish ? His stomach roiled. Loki had poured some of the awful stuff into his water at his 450th birthday feast. "Oh, and why not ?"

"The mystery, dear brother, the thrill of not knowing if it's an old woman, the Ormian King or a shapeshifted dragon beneath the mask."

"Humph, I still think it's stupid. What're you going as at least ?"

Loki chuckled, "You should remember that I'm always getting horny over big occasions. I did have to specify an Asgardian Deer, of course, but it was well worth it." A full mask formed on Loki's face. It was covered with soft, dark brown and beige fur while the twin horns were carved from bone and swept back over the silky hair.

"No one else gets to see that pretty face, huh ?"

"When have I ever bared anything unnecessarily ? Manage the night's expectations, that's what I'm going to do. And you don't really think I only got one, do you ? I got three."

"And you're not going to tell me what the other two are, are you ?"

"That would defeat the whole mystery aspect, so, no, I'm not." 

* * *

He patted Sleipnir's neck as mist swirled beneath the enormous horse's flanks. It wasn't just any mist either. No, every damned time he blew it away it came back. "If this is one of your games, Loki, I tire of it."

"Just because my name means Wind in Ancient Jotunn doesn't mean I caused it." Loki looked up from Faust's back, his eyes glittered crimson in the dark. "I have never controlled the wind in my life, not that I've noticed."

It still amazed him that Loki had somehow found the time to save Sleipnir, Faust, Manni, Maus and Voli. Maybe he'd done it before the dramatic entrance ? Not that he minded. Apart from Loki, Eir and Heimdall, the horses were one of the few things left from their childhood. They passed beneath a crumbling, ivy covered arch onto a path of cobbled stone.

Hooves pounded behind them as Brunnhilde called, "Your Highness didn't think to leave me behind, did he ?" Manni's white coat almost blended into the mist as he caught up to them.

"Of course not, good Valkyrie. You just looked so engrossed with Eir that I thought it best not to disturb you. Here, better that a bodyguard not arouse suspicion."

A glance over and down revealed a blue jay half mask on the Valkyrie's face. "It looks nice. So, forest theme, huh, brother ?"

"I don't do deep sea or space. Tentacles, unnerving mystical lights, krakens and Norns only know what else. Like that fucking space kraken who tried to bite me in half. Do not ever mention llamas."

Brunnhilde tipped her head. "Llamas."

"A whole planet full of talking, bipedal llamas. They had nothing better to do than stare at the screaming, plummeting rainbow. Fuck llamas."

"Well, I can't say I blame them. You did mentally torture me after all."

"You're the one that ra...,"

"Enough, both of you ! You will not speak to each other in any form until this masquerade is through. Is that clear, Prince Loki and Valkyrie Brunnhilde ?"

"Yes, Allfather."

Red light fell from above as a cloud bank shifted and he looked up to see a blood moon. "Mrr. There better not be any damn vampires at this revelry."

"If there are you'll find out soon enough, the castle lies ahead." Loki responded, Faust nudged Sleipnir. As a colt, Faust had loved trying to sneak into Sleipnir's stall. Now the two were nearly inseparable.

It was a few minutes before a grey shape loomed above the barren trees, its many spires scraping the sky. In spite of that, the Ormian Castle was far smaller than the Imperial Palace of Asgard. As they approached, he saw that the portcullis was open and lantern and firelight spilled onto a line of people and a podium. He slid from the saddle and led Sleipnir to the podium. How the invitation checker stuttered to see them.

Loki turned a laughing fit into a coughing fit before dismounting and handing over their invitation, a piece of thick parchment covered in gold runes and black crests. He glanced at the wary stableboy, "Put my horse into a stall nearest the outside of the barn if you can, please. Sleipnir will follow him, if the entrance is too small he will wait on the same side without."

"Of course, Your Highness. Majesty, Lady." The boy doffed his beige cap and took Faust's reins, as promised Sleipnir followed. Another stableboy took Voli from Brunnhilde.

The entrance hall to the Ormian Castle was walled in dark oak and hung with dozens of paintings. A dark red carpet led the way to the marble tiled dance hall. Stained glass windows were everywhere, depicting battles, peaceful farmland, streams and forests.

"I'm going to find something to drink. If there are vampires here, try not to end up drooling on your boots again." With those parting words, Loki strode into the crowd in a swirl of silver embroidered sorcerer's robes.

"You ended up drooling on your own boots ?! I'll take a wild guess and say he stabbed them. Probably a jealousy thing if the Grandmaster was right, which it seems he was."

Irritated, he crossed his arms. "How was I supposed to know she was a vampire ? It was a quarter moon and a garden party, by Odin's beard. What kind of excitement ever happens at garden parties ? And what do you mean that creep was right ? He chose to have hideous two-toned walls, he flirted at Loki right in front of me and if you're going to say he's a sworn Enemy of the Kingdom, you're damn right he is." Just yesterday Loki had told him that the old man had even tried manipulating his grief at Father's death to 'cuddle' with him. Rotten bag of slime didn't even start to describe the Grandmaster. God, he wished he could've punched that fucker's teeth out before they'd left Sakaar.

"The pointy fangs didn't clue you in ? Also, don't try to play dumb, I just saw you staring at Loki's ass. The only ones that haven't noticed are Korg and the pre-pubescent children. Even then, I heard a little girl ask her mother why you and Loki aren't married the other day, like King Odin and Queen Frigga were. It was kinda cute, actually. Now, if you didn't know the Grandmaster lives for any form of sex which in his definition includes intrigue. Really, where did you think the whole seductive thunder thing came from ? I never told him about our meeting in the sparring area so he could only have gotten it from your and Loki's whisper-fest."

A servant passed with a tray of goblets and he took one. White wine, roughly 700 years old, if his experience with Asgardian wines held true here. Over in the far corner a circle had formed, once again the group laughed. Intrigued, he walked over to hear a man slurring, "Ignori are called that for a reason, they're a waste of flesh. When I left the little beast was still crying for its dead mother. If I had my way they'd all be dead by now."

Anger welled in his chest at the sheer ignorance, the arrogance. Was that what he had sounded like 6 years ago when someone mentioned the Frost Giants ? Thank God that Loki had accidentally gotten him banished, it'd been the best thing to ever happen to him. "You think it funny to orphan children, do you ?"

The man's golden furred mountain lion mask was dotted with black flowers. "So what if I do ? I'm the Prince of Ormia, you're nobody, so fly away birdie."

"He's just a boy, Your Majesty." Brunnhilde whispered, her hand landing on his arm.

Father had said that same thing to Laufey when defending his rashness from the Frost King's rightful ire. "I was just like him not long ago. The difference is I changed my ways, he still needs to." He turned back to the outraged princeling, "I'm lucky enough to have someone that understands kingship in a way I never will. If you don't have one or if you don't care to learn you'll never be ready to rule. I'd suggest you put down the goblet and pick up a book on courtly manner." He could've dodged the drunken punches when he was 5, but Brunnhilde had other ideas. The Valkyrie caught the first punch and pushed, the prince spilled wine all down his formerly pristine white tunic. With a glare, the Ormian stormed off followed by a good chunk of the crowd.

A man in an ebony wolf mask lingered for a moment then moved off.


	2. Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If anyone had enough willpower to resist a vampire it was Loki.

Every once in a while Thor thought that maybe Loki was right and punching didn't solve everything. Lightning flashed causing patches of colour to shine onto the floor; as he and Valkyrie started a circuit of the room he looked for a familiar silhouette. It wasn't there so he'd guess Loki was either talking to some other sorcerers or had changed masks already. Loki could've been hiding under any of the animal or magical creature masks.

A tree mask for chaos' sake ? But then Loki would expect him to look for a tree while wearing an illusory kobold mask that was actually carved from a tree. Couldn't Loki do something simple for once ? Wait, who were those people ? "Hilde, that group by the field window, with the kilts and jewels are they Aegyptians ? Loki mentioned he met some on Earth a few times and again on Sakaar."

"Those're Aegyptians all right. Met Horus, their king, once, he was nice enough given I crash landed on his palace's outer wall. Did you know the whole of their nobility and royalty are shapeshifters ?"

"Huh, no wonder Loki likes them so much." He'd thought Loki was exaggerating when he said they were a beautiful people, but the partial faces he could see were beautiful.

 

A pale skinned man wore a full faced black dog mask whose ears and muzzle were long and thin, the dark brown skinned man wore a golden hawk half mask and heavy collar while the olive skinned man wore a silver snake half mask. The hawk man waved them over. Were the masks a representation of their most used forms ? As they approached, he couldn't help thinking it was weird that Aegyptians and Frost Giants both wore kilts. One people lived on a mostly desert planet, the other lived on an icy planet and the only differences were looseness/tightness, length, floor length compared to thigh length, and shade.

 

The hawk inclined his head, "Aegypt greets its friends, Thor Allfather, brother of Loki, and Brunnhilde of Asgard."

 

"You're one of Loki's friends from Sakaar ?"

 

"Yes. I am Horus, Son of Osiris, King of all Aegypt and God of the Air." Horus gestured to his left at the dog, "That is Anubis, God of Souls." To his right at the snake, "And this is Apophis, God of Chaos."

 

"So, are there lots of 'is'-es in Aegypt ?"

 

"As many as there are 'in'-es in Asgard, I would think. Before you ask, no, I've not seen Loki tonight. He never joined us on the Commodore but he likes a good party."

 

"That is weird. Normally he's so quiet or dug into a book then you get to a revelry and ask something about magic then the words hardly stop."

 

Anubis spoke, "Sire, I've smelled a vampire again. Where there's one...,"

 

He finished, "There are more. I'll take the casements and upper floor. Valkyrie, this floor and the cellars." What if Loki wasn't in the room because a vampire had trapped him somewhere and was feeding off him ? Well, then he'd just have to introduce himself with a lightning blast to its face. As he passed the worryingly few guards he warned them of the possible threat, they didn't look concerned. The casement was empty, except for him and a trio of guards. A trio of guards that were far too still after seeing someone fly onto their roof under a blood moon. Even months later, he still had to concentrate to summon one of his swords instead of trying to Mjolnir. None of the guards had a drop of blood left in them. Something snarled behind him, he turned, the swing of his sword bisected the vampire at the stomach. Glowing red eyes glowered as it gnashed its fangs, he disintegrated it with a blast of lightning.

 

With a grimace, he moved the guards bodies out of the elements then made his way back into the castle via a winding stair. A series of pale birch doors, ancient suits of plate armour and thick tapestries, depicting battles with vampires of varying species, lined the hall. The only thing that would've been more horrifying than a vampiric Surtur was a vampiric Grandmaster. Said hypothetical paint wearing creep could have misted into Loki's chambers, drank his blood while assaulting him and left without a sound. Dust, dust, black smoke ghost lady out of the corner of his eye, empty cradle. Ghost lady ?! Instinctively, he spun on his heels. God, he was starting to wish he'd paid attention when Mother'd been telling them about the different types of ghosts.

 

Loki suddenly collapsed against the wall, panting like he'd just tried to outrun a dragon on foot. "Thor ! Agh, thank God. Fucking thing almost mesmerized me into a midnight snack."

 

"Are you all right ?" Mesmerized ? Being a Master of Magic, Loki had more willpower than most Asgardians and he knew a plethora of memory spells and counter spells, including how to prevent them. Loki never would've dropped his guard if he suspected a vampire was near. The stench of fish oil filled his nose as 'Loki' approached. His Loki was graceful, yes, but not seem to float over the floor graceful. It'd also been about two hours since they'd arrived and there was no way Loki would've still been wearing the deer mask.

 

"I'll be fine, now I've found you, love." Red glinted behind the mask, a pale hand reached out. There was a nearly inaudible rush of air like, for a moment, the vampire had extended its claws then retracted them.

 

"Do you remember the first time you ever stabbed me ?"

 

Black hair rippled as it tipped its head, "Why reminisce ? It's more fun now."

 

"Damn right it is." A golden hilted blade flashed with emerald fire before the separated head and body turned into a pile of ash. Loki removed a black wolf mask, the same one from before. "I was 8, you were 458, you simplified it by telling the Valkyrie and Banner that we were eight. When I was 300, we were visitng Midgard and you made a joke about croaking so I turned you into a frog."

 

"Why would you let it follow you ?"

 

"Counterpoint: Why would I ever deny someone the opportunity to be me ? I'm intelligent, sexy, an incredibly accomplished Master of Magic and a sworn Warrior of Asgard. I'm bloody perfect."

 

"Now I know that's my Loki. What were you doing ? Horus said he hadn't seen you."

 

"After I helped them escape Sakaar he named me Tutre, honourary Prince of Aegypt. I let the vampire shift into my form then tracked its scent back to the nest and set it on fire. Three less vampires to bother these people, four now. Apparently, they've been lurking for thousands of years, preying on strayed servants and guards. That's why there're so little of them, everyone's too frightened to stay. Shouldn't be a problem after tonight though, the Hawk, the Jackal and the Bluejay should have routed whatever prowlers were left by now. You can have the next bastard we come across."

 

With a grin, he kissed Loki, "I'm gonna hold you to that. I get snake tongue if you don't."

 

"And here I thought you said you didn't like that."

 

"I missed my snake."

 

They dallied a bit, made themselves presentable again, redonned their masks and returned to the masquerade.

 

Brunnhilde was still with Anubis and Horus, "You two took your sweet time. We killed six of them, you find any actual blood suckers or just that one ?"

 

Before he could say anything, a loud voice filled the hall. "Citizens, honoured guests, I have just received word that the heart of the Nova Empire, Nova Prime, was destroyed and half her people slaughtered by Thanos the Mad Titan. My wife, Amalis of Nova Alpha, was among them. I will be sending a ship to provide aid. I strongly urge those of you who have loved ones there and those who can help to follow me. The masquerade is over."

 

"Uh, Thor, where's Loki going ?" The Valkyrie had looked over her shoulder and frowned, he turned to find Loki disappearing into the crowd.

 

Confused, he made his way out of the castle. Impulsively, he walked toward the barn. Sleipnir lay on the grass outside while Loki curled against his flank. "Is something wrong, brother ?"

 

"I'm not going to Nova Prima."

 

"They need our help !"

 

Emerald eyes glittered with angry tears. "Do you want us to die ?! Because that's what'll happen, that's my punishment."

 

"What are you talking about, punishment ? The one who controlled you ?"

 

"Do you know why there are so few living Children of Thanos ? It's because he kills all the ones that fail him. Gamora, the only Daughter who became my friend, told me that he tortures them by killing the ones they love or destroying their home, whichever he reaches first. I was supposed to use the Sceptre to bring him the Tesseract. Instead, I lost both and the Chitauri army was destroyed. He would never stop hunting me while I was alive so I faked my death in an attempt to save our people. Now, thanks to the Grandmaster, I've got a bounty on my head. Thanos destroyed Nova Prime which means he has the Power Stone and he's far too close for my liking."

 

Metal and cloth rustled before Brunnhilde made herself known. "Norns only know why but His Majesty and the people love you, Loki. Given that, I won't run from my duty again, not even over you. Whoever this Thanos is, I doubt he's dealt with a Valkyrie before."

 

"It's suicide but if you want to throw your life away, go right ahead, I won't stab you."

 

"How reassuring. The supplies were loaded from the roof so we're ready to ride out of here."

 

"Stopping leaning on my horse and go saddle up, brother. We're resuming our journey to Earth."

 

"Midgard."

 

"Earth."

 

"Midgard."

 

"Stuff like this makes me glad I never had brothers."

 

Simultaneously, he and Loki said, "You're missing out, really."

 

The sooner they got to Earth, the safer their people and Loki would be.


End file.
